An energy-absorbing member is placed between a bumper and a car body frame, for example. When receiving an excessive impact load, the energy-absorbing member breaks to absorb the impact energy. A fiber-reinforced composite with excellent energy absorption capacity may be used as an energy-absorbing member. An energy-absorbing member may include a trigger section, which serves as a starting point of breakage when receiving an excessive impact load.
For example, referring to FIG. 5, Patent Document 1 discloses an impact absorption composite structure 80 that includes a fiber lamination impregnated with a plastic. The fiber lamination includes a plurality of laminated reinforcing fibers. The impact absorption composite structure 80 includes a trigger section 82, which extends from one end in the direction in which a load is applied (hereinafter referred to as “load direction”) to a predetermined position in the load direction. The trigger section 82 is a section where the interlayer bonding strength of the fiber lamination is not increased. The section of the impact absorption composite structure 80 beyond the predetermined position, that is, the section other than the trigger section 82, is an interlayer reinforcement region 81, in which the interlayer bonding strength is increased by needling 83. When the impact absorption composite structure 80 receives an excessive impact load, localized breakage occurs in the trigger section 82 before the interlayer reinforcement region 81 to absorb the energy, and the interlayer reinforcement region 81 hinders propagation of breakage.